Shark Club Accused of Racial Discrimination Against Indo-Canadians

The Shark Club in Langley has been ordered to pay $30,000 to three Indo-Canadians who were refused entry into the club. Each will receive $10,000 as per the B.C. human-rights tribunal’s ruling. 

The three people in their 40’s accused the the Shark Club of discriminating against them as they were denied entry for a birthday party in December 2011.

The tribunal has also ordered the club to stop contravening B.C.’s human rights code, which prevents denying service to people based on their race, colour, ancestry and other reasons.

The $10,000 payment will cover the extent of injury to the individual’s dignity and self-respect.

The three victims, Serge Rai, Manjinder Gill and his wife, Manjit, told the tribunal they were denied entry to the club while other white patrons were allowed to walk in.

Rai was also assaulted by a bouncer that night. The assault took place after he took a photo of doorman Andrew Schmah. Schmah didn’t like it so he ordered Rai to erase it and then threw him to the ground. Schmah pleaded guilty to assault in a separate court filing.

The tribunal found the three individuals were denied entry and The Shark Club staff “falsely stated” at the January hearing that they weren’t allowed in because they didn’t have proper ID or that the club was full.

The establishment was unable to provide a reason as to why the three Indo-Canadians weren’t allowed in.

The truth is that stuff like this does happen from time to time and it happens to all groups of people. It just happens to some groups more than others and in a multicultural city like Vancouver, that sort of stuff shouldn’t happen.